I don’t normally read aloud because I can focus better reading to myself. However, I did read a couple of chapters of The Book Thief to my grandma.

Have you read Markus Zusak’s other books?

I have not. I might want to at some point now, though.

The others are equally good. That’s one of my favorite fantasy series.

Not really a book, but a short story, but whatever. I read Neil Gaiman’s take on Snow White, Snow, Glass, Apples. Nice that it makes reference to the original, while adding a few new twists. For example, the princess (she’s never named) is some kind of vampire. Did I mention it’s told from the queen’s perspective?

Also, given the multiple movies/shows based on Snow White made recently, I have to wonder why this hasn’t been adapted.

I got around to The Great Gatsby, and absolutely loved it. Any shortcomings fade before the wonderful ending, anad that perfect final line.

Snow, Glass, Apples looks good; thanks for the link!

The Black Cauldron. Great book, not so great movie.

Now I’m starting Jane Eyre, which I’m really enjoying so far. Next on my list: The Lords of Discipline by Pat Conroy. Hope I won’t be let down by all the hype.

Yes. I actually don’t dislike him as much as I expected.

I believe you can read FMA online?

I thought that wasn’t legal.

Really? I just read all my FMA chapters online because my local public library only had the first 2 books in the series. I wasn’t aware that it would be illegal. But if it was illegal, then wouldn’t manga websites be shut down? confused

Online translations can be somewhat iffy at times, but almost all the mangas I’ve read online had pretty good translations.

Is it possible that The High King has a higher deaths per page ratio than Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows? Probably not, but sure feels like it.

Bought a good-shape copy of Game of Thrones for 25 cents. Time to see what all the hype is on.

Just my $0.02:

Make sure you treat it as a book and nothing else. I’m not offended or bothered by all the sex, gore and messed up stuff that happens in the series, but a lot of people are. If you ever feel that way just remember that it’s a book and keep reading. There were times where I wanted to just put the book down because it was that character’s chapter, or the story wasn’t progressing, or something else entirely, but I just kept reading and got through it. A Game of Thrones is a really good book, but to truly appreciate it you have to be patient and persistent.

Trust me, it’s well worth your time.

So, ready for the 8th Harry Potter book this Wednesday?

There is a new book featuring Harry Potter coming this Wednesday.

First: vol. 3 of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century isn’t commming out until July. And Mr. Potter may or may not be the Antichrist (well, “Moonchild”, but whatever) in it. It wouldn’t be the first time Alan Moore’s turned a hero into a bad guy (see: League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier), so that’ll be something to watch.

Second: Rowling’s next book (which doesn’t appear to have anything to do with Harry Potter) is comming out in September.

Third: the only thing I can find involving Harry Potter and June of 2012 is a mention of a PS3 peripheral call the Book of Spells. This might be what Marquis is talking about.

I finished Guy Gavriel Kay’s Fionavar Tapestry series. If you like high fantasy, I think this is the best example outside of Tolkien. Which I believe was Kay’s intent. Anyway, it’s definitely recommended.

Now I’ve moved on to (another) attempt with Les Miserables. Standing by for glomp from Inspector…

On a whim I decided to check Tumblr for the tag WondLa, and I found that A Hero for WondLa is out and I literally (as in, I physically did it) did a little spasm. And it’s at the library! I’ve now stopped procrastinating on reading (and therefor getting those books you guys suggested to me oh-so-long ago) and will read the crap out of this book, as well as the ones you guys recommended to me.

...Just finished Hush Hush

IT’S A TRAP!

Recently on of my sisters has gotten into this series call the “Kingdom Series” by Chuck Black. She loaned me the first three books to read, and they are so bad! Not in a Glo Tesch kinda way where it’s a hilariously funny bad. But bad all the same. They’re only about 120 pages each, and they try so desperately hard to be a Christian allegory and just fail. I am seriously considering borrowing the first one again and sporking it.

@ Minoan Ferret: I looked at the book’s page on Amazon, and Tamora Pierce gave it a thumbs up. And even though I’ve only read one of her books, I trust her opinion more than CP’s.

@Fell_Blade: Hey, why not?

As for me, I’m about half way through Leviathan Wakes (hard sci-fi space opera, pretty good), and I’m working through Mists of Avalon (liking it more as I go on, though I have to wonder why Bradley had to tie her British paganism back to Atlantis).

Also, working through City of Bones when I can bring myself to. I decided I should finish it first before sporking it.

@Pryotra,
I probably will, although I’m in the middle of some other projects right now. I’m getting reviews for the Eragon and New Moon books together, and then the Transformers movie. But after finishing the third book in that series, I’m going to have to spork at least the first one. I actually found myself getting really frustrated reading them because of the poor handling of the allegory.

Hahaha, yes please! Take lots of pictures!

What will you be shooting? Is it a paperback or hardcover book? I’m curious as to how far a bullet will penetrate a book that thick.

Please take a bazooka.

I just finished Inkdeath, after staying awake till 3:30 am because I couldn’t sleep. I liked it much better than I expected to.

I also finished The Thief Lord, which I liked as well, just not quite as much. The merry-go-round was cool.

I was at B&N today with time to kill so I picked up Battle Royale on a whim and read around the first hundred pages. The only thing I knew about it was that a few of my friends got mad that Suzanne Collins made it big by “copying the storyline”. My initial thoughts:

1. It’s not like The Hunger Games at all.
2. Maybe some of my first impressions were marred by the fact that it’s a translated piece of work, but the story seemed to start really abruptly and the amount of infodumping in the first chapter alone, while not unwarranted, was pretty intense.
3. Brains, blood, guts. At first the graphic violence was jarring but from what I’ve heard it’s a common theme throughout the book so I guess you get used to it?
4. I was mildly intrigued.

Has anyone read The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson? I just finished it and I really liked the world building he put into the novel. I know the general consensus on II is that Sanderson is a pretty mediocre author, but I thought this book, though it had its faults, was really engrossing and fairly well-written. Any opinions?

I really want to get my hands on Maus

I’ve been meaning to read that….

I’ve been reading The Hunger Games books. I really like them, but it seems like they’re missing a little something. I also don’t like how Collins skips chunks of time in the course of a couple of sentences. They’re really engaging, though, and the world is interesting. I actually would like more description of the world.

I really like them, but it seems like they’re missing a little something.

I only just started the second one, so I can’t yet say anything on the whole series, but the first book read like a first draft for me. It had that bare essentials feel to it. You’re supposed to go back and immerse yourself into every event a lot more than you were able to the first time round and try to do all the scenes and the characters’ emotions justice.

I feel that Collins never really bothered to do that. You’d expect it to be more compelling, but I found it to be very unoriginal in conveying any form of pain or loss. Also on how the character and others feel about those in charge. The them and the us. She could have done that a whole lot better but her descriptions on any rebellious feelings were very tired. Almost a bit lazy. The idea for the books are very original though, and that’s what’s got me interested. I’d also like to see a lot more of the world.

I think that what Sen said is mostly what bugged me. Collins likes to skim over stuff. It’s like she gets tired of writing about a certain scene, so she just decides to skip to the next big event by saying “Nothing really happened after that. Let’s back to the action.” I just finished the second book, and I still don’t know what all the districts do.

Also, particularly in the first book, I wasn’t that attached to any of the characters. I was interested in what would happen next, but I didn’t care that much when the Big Sad Death occurred. It happened too quickly after the introduction of that particular character to have a lot of impact on me. I did like a couple of random secondary characters in Catching Fire, though.

I thought the pacing was off.

This goes along with her skipping huge chunks of time in the course of a couple of sentences. That got on my nerves a bit.

And that Collins went way out of her way to make sure that Katniss had morally clean hands while killing other kids

I agree. It took away a lot of the moral grey area that could have been really interesting. Also, Peeta is irritatingly selfless.

I still like the books overall (so far). I think they are engaging, and they’re really quick reads. I really like either of the twist endings that they’ve had, though, because they seemed too unrealistic and made the whole thing seem unreal.

EDIT:
I also think someone important needs to die. It would up the stakes and maybe force the emotion to be better.

I think you might like the third book, then. Some of those criticisms are addressed in it, in particular the characters’ emotions.

Oh good. I mean, I was excited to read the third one anyway because, the books are excited and interesting, but it’s good to know that it might actually be an improvement as well.

Ana’s subconscious and “inner goddess”

So… those are actually characters? Really?

Yes. I kid you not. They’re not real characters in the sense of characters other than Ana interacting with them, but Ana mentions them all. The. Time. The “inner goddess” is the sex-crazed one and the subconscious is… well… she’s kind of whatever convenient emotion she needs to be, without consistent characterization. Kind of like Kate.

My reading list for my English class: Paradise Lost, Canterbury Tales, poetry of Donne and Spenser. I’m excited, but very, very nervous.

Ah The Canterbury Tales. Porn for the high middle ages. If you end up reading the Miller’s Tale, be prepared. The Squire’s tale is pretty funny, particularly when the Host tells him to stop because his story is going nowhere.

Sounds like you got a good list. I’m a little surprised that they don’t have you reading Beowulf since this sounds like Brit Lit 1.

Having had to read the story four times, once because I thought I should know it and every other time because I was forced to, it kind of depends on your view of it. While there is plenty of action in it (including our hero nearly beating a monster to death with the monster’s own arm) the tone can be pretty dry. If you come into it expecting it to be exciting, you’ll be sadly disappointed. If you play ‘spot the reference and see things that Tolkien used’, it can be pretty fun.

^ I don’t know, having been introduced to Indian epics like the Mahabharatha at a really young age, which has the big scope plus the relative non-intervention of gods, I feel spoiled now. :)

But playing spot-the-reference does sound like fun!

I’ve read the Mahabharatha, but honestly, I like Beowulf better. Maybe I read a bad translation though.

And the Iliad.

I…kind of like the intervention of gods. It made the Iliad way more fun that it would have been if it was just ‘Achilles is whining because the girl he raped was given back to her dad. Oh look, Achilles’ boyfriend got killed.’

Sean Heaney’s translation of Beowulf (the lyrical beauty between Tolkien and which to which Paolini strives) is the worst translation. I much prefer the translation available of Project Gutenberg (Gummere’s translation), it retains so much more of the wordplay and rhythm.

The best way to read any translated poems like that is side-by-side, I think, even if you can’t read the original language.

LO, praise of the prowess of people-kings
of spear-armed Danes, in days long sped,
we have heard, and what honor the athelings won!
Oft Scyld the Scefing from squadroned foes,
from many a tribe, the mead-bench tore,
awing the earls. Since erst he lay
friendless, a foundling, fate repaid him:
for he waxed under welkin, in wealth he throve,
till before him the folk, both far and near,
who house by the whale-path, heard his mandate,
gave him gifts: a good king he!

Hwæt! We Gardena in geardagum,
þeodcyninga, þrym gefrunon,
hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon.
Oft Scyld Scefing sceaþena þreatum,
monegum mægþum, meodosetla ofteah,
egsode eorlas. Syððan ærest wearð
feasceaft funden, he þæs frofre gebad,
weox under wolcnum, weorðmyndum þah,
oðþæt him æghwylc þara ymbsittendra
ofer hronrade hyran scolde,
gomban gyldan. þæt wæs god cyning!

I just think the ability to compare the rhythm and form of the original with the translation makes it easier to engage with. It might just be me.

Maybe I read a bad translation though.

Yeah, I can’t speak for that. I never actually read it, I just know the stories. Or at least I used to, it’s really complex and I’ve forgotten a lot. But now I feel like I should try Beowulf, and I might change my mind.

And now a question: I’m re-reading One Hundred Years of Solitude, and I’d be indebted to anyone who can explain exactly why Amaranta is willing to poison Rebeca over Pietro Crespi. I know it’s unrequited love, but Amaranta takes the whole thing a bit far.

I didn’t mind the ending either.

I was rather satisfied with the ending. It was happy enough without tasting like diabetes. I agree though, there was a kind of unpolished feel to Mockingjay.

I for one have never been fond of the tense through. I’ve just never liked present tense for whatever reason.

That’s an interesting thing to bring up, because no joke, I was halfway through the second book before I noticed it was present tense. Sometimes, present tense is jarring, but in the Hunger Games books, I think it’s handled quite well. It’s probably the best writing I’ve ever read that was present tense. When I think of it, I tend to think of poorly written fanfiction. I personally can’t write in present tense at all, I just think my writing sounds awful (even more awful than usual, anyway).

The present tense writing was alright. What I absolutely couldn’t stand was the rest of the book. Collins exposited over every key event and violates every rule on showing and not telling, Katniss does nothing but mope, take morphine, and be loved by her people for some reason, the ending didn’t wrap up anything and left me angry, and there were plot gaps big enough to fly the Orion through. those are the problems I pulled off the top of my head alone.

its like Eragon’s “They drew back motionlessly” remarks.

Those mistakes I think are forgivable for a first time writer like Pao because of how easy it is to overlook them and get caught up in the moment you’re writing. For Collins who is a veteran author, I think its a sign of poor editing.

Game over man.

Screw that. I’m ordering a full exterminatus, followed up by an inquisition.

I’m assuming some elements of the cult made it off the planet, requiring an inquisitorial force to track them down. I’m not sure whether I’ll need Grey Knights or Sisters of Battle though.

Thank you SWQ for re-railing this discussion.

Recently read The Dispossessed, a classic by Ursula K. Le Guin. Sort of a planetary romance about an anarcho-syndicalist physicist who travels from his semi-utopian home to a very capitalist planet. It’s absolutely fascinating, filled with a million of philosophical tidbits.

And a good historical book, since I heard the subject, is 1491 by Charles C. Mann. It tries to survey the major pre-Columbian cultures of the Americas, from their history, technology, organization, all the way to their susceptibility to European invasion. Mann is a science journalist, so the book is cross-disciplinary, really snappy and thought-provoking, pretty much at the same time.

I’ve heard good things about 1491. I think it may be assigned as school reading in places, because I keep seeing it prominently displayed with other books that tend to be summer reading.

Currently reading Fall of Giants by Ken Follett, a historical fiction epic set before and during WWI. It’s okay; more of an airport read. Especially since it’s historical fiction, there’s a good of telling and “As you know…” in the narration, but the story is interesting enough to make you carry on. Unfortunately this is the best thing the book has going for it, that element of “What comes next?” which is often the least interesting point of a book (as far as second reads, especially).

Tangentially related, but Deborah’s post above reminded me of this:

which occurred a few days ago.

I’m starting The Canterbury Tales in Middle English. It’s actually pretty fun so far, and I’m enjoying reading it in the original words. It’s so interesting to see what’s remained the same in our language and what’s changed over all the centuries. It would lose a lot if I just read a modernized ‘translation’.

Reading The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins.

Richard Dawkins is awesome.